


Reykjavik

by MillionDollarTeddyBear



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Businessman Arthur, Engaged, Established Relationship, Feelings, Iceland, M/M, Medical Researcher Merlin, Multi, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Possible Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-05-21 23:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14925428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MillionDollarTeddyBear/pseuds/MillionDollarTeddyBear
Summary: After spending two weeks on a business trip to Iceland, Merlin is ready to go back to London with his fiancé, only to find himself on the receiving end of Arthur's stress-induced rant and fury, prompting him to angrily hang up on Arthur."Flight BAW805 from Reykjavik to London has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean", is the breaking news some hours later and Arthur's heart drops into his stomach and he doesn't know how to breathe anymore.Merlin, his Merlin, had been on flight BAW805 from Reykjavik to London.(Modern AU)[ON HIATUS]





	1. Chapter 1

The medical conference hosted in Reykjavik was going on the list of Merlin's favorite business trips.

A two-week long summit hosted between Reykjavik, Kópavogur and a brief two-day stint at Heimaey, the event was a thrilling one, with some of the most prominent and brilliant minds in the world of medical research and development coming together. Merlin was especially proud that he had been asked by the Epione Organization, which hosted the biennial summit, to please serve as the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony.

He had excitedly relayed the information to Arthur when he'd gotten the call and had accepted, and his blond-haired fiancé was really supportive. With his tie loose and smelling of his signature woodsy aftershave, Arthur had smiled brightly and wrapped his arms around Merlin's lithe figure, congratulating him. Though come to Merlin packing his clothes into the Burberry suitcases (a gift from Morgana for his most recent birthday), he could see that the Pendragon man was honest to God, moping.

With pouty lips and being extra touchy, hands squeezing Merlin's shoulders, fingers softly drawing shapes on his hipbone and swirling the pads of his fingers along his spine. "You don't have to mope, you prat, there's no need to miss me", he teases, turning around to look at the blond man seated on a nearby chaise.

"I'm not going to miss you", Arthur had scoffed, looking slightly indignant at the accusation.

Chuckling, the dark-haired man walked over to the chaise, welcoming Arthur when he leans forward and wraps his arms around his slender waist. Slowly running his long fingers through his beloved's hair, even though sure, he might mess Arthur's "pristine" head of golden hair that brought out the vanity he claimed he didn't have. He felt Arthur's breath at his flat stomach and he softly chuckled, murmuring confirmations to Arthur that he was going to come quick, that the two weeks would fly by fast, that he'd be sure to get on the first flight from Keflavík to Heathrow.

He had made sure that Gwen, Morgana, Will and the rest of their friends would make sure to keep Arthur company and prevent him from moping around and wallowing. Merlin was always grateful that when Arthur went on business trips to Singapore or Chicago or wherever Uther decided to send him, that their friends would make sure that he wasn't just sad at their Chelsea home and watching a BBC documentary on Marc Bolan or any one of the many Maggie Smith films he had, while eating potato chips on the couch. He hoped that they would go out for dinner or drinks with Arthur, distract from being a couch potato in sadness.

The medical conference was amazing. Merlin had attended multiple times, every single time that the event had been held the last decade, going with Gaius to whatever the event was hosted that year. It was always such a marvelous experience, surrounded by people with such knowledge and desire to learn and discover and use that knowledge for the betterment of human health, it had always left him starry-eyed. But things were different this time around. While he had attended previously as a plus one for Gaius, and then for being his research assistant, this time he felt that he was attending much more on his own merit as a researcher.

Merlin came from a humble home, with his mum Hunith being a single working mother, juggling all sorts of jobs to keep them afloat. His father, named Balinor, had been a soldier and died in combat, and the family of two was maintained afloat also with much help from his mother's elder brother, his Uncle Gaius. A graduate in genetics and microbiology from Queen Mary University of London, going on to earn a Ph.D. in cell biology from Oxford and becoming one of Great Britain's, and honestly, the world's, most prominent oncology researchers, Gaius always made time for his sister and his nephew, being by their side, watching out for them and helping in everything that he could with the two.

When Hunith fell ill and was diagnosed with breast cancer, Gaius had used every single connection that he had made across his professional career in trying to bring his sister back to health. Merlin remembered seeing his mother slowly wither, her dark and luscious hair that she always had tumbling down her shoulders was lost due to radiation therapy, he remembered her bright eyes losing their mirthful shine, and he remembered when her grip on his hand had lessened, and she had passed away one early December morning.

From then on Gaius had been Merlin's guardian, and he'd taken in his dark-haired nephew in with joy, being intent on giving Merlin the best life he could. Through his youth and until now, Gaius had always been Merlin's hero, his Uncle being a lead researcher and scientist at places like Cancer Research UK, the former London Research Institute, the Wellcome Trust, the LMB in Cambridge and on the board of the Crick, all of that was just a wonder in Merlin's eyes, so much that it had led him to want to follow in his uncle's footsteps.

He'd studied at Queen Mary University, just like his uncle, earning a Bachelor's in microbiology, and had gone on to study an MPhil in Medical Science-Oncology from the Department of Oncology at Cambridge. Many things had propelled him to strive for a career in medicine, and while Gaius was one of the largest factors that contributed, another was his mother. The sight of her lying in a hospital bed, her eyes looking lovingly at her hand joined with his child one years and years back was still ingrained in his brain. He thought about her a lot, about his mother, and he had always thought that him working and studying and researching to help another mother be able to heal and be better and return to a normal life with her children, with her loved ones, that it would make his mum proud of him, wherever she was.

Recipient of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, he earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Oncology, and his postgraduate research was done mainly with Gaius. At the Crick, a medical research team led by Gaius and himself had been conducting research on cell signaling and signaling pathways since 2015, important research, and just last year they had a breakthrough regarding T cells and immune responses, and it spawned a mass surge in activity and research regarding T cells. The BMJ proclaimed their work "revolutionary for the application in cancer immunotherapy and cell-based deficiencies for autoimmune diseases". Their research was ongoing and the team had most recently partnered with UCLA to conduct further investigations.

This news and his work was the reason behind the Epione Organization asking him to be their keynote speaker. His uncle had that position two times, back in 2014 and in 2010, and when Merlin had taken to the stage, dressed primly in that tailored blue suit that Arthur had him fitted for when they had gone to Uther's 60th birthday dinner, the one he said brought out his eyes and made him look "dashing", he could see the pride radiating from Gaius, seated in the first row.

The event was a flurry of activities, ranging from conferences to panels, expositions to interactive question and answer sessions with audience members, and Merlin was right in the middle of it. He was asked to head the panel on Youth and Medicine and led the conversation on the necessity of youth involving themselves in medicine and developing fields, as well as sitting down for an interview with a journalist from the Times in New York. Another interview was with Forbes, who had already done a profile of him last year and included him twice in their 30 Under 30. A moment he wouldn't likely forget soon was when someone asked him during one of the interactive sessions about what had led him to enter into medicine, where his passion for it had its origins, and he had smiled softly and relayed the story of his mother and how that made him strive to enter the medical field and work hard. He had gotten a bit emotional, laughed it off in the end but had been emotional to share that story for the first time.

All in all, the experience was a fantastic one, and he got to meet many people that he admired. He'd found it hard to contain his desire to start squealing and fangirling when he met Karen Vousden (a close friend of Gaius), and he spent grand part of the two weeks being starstruck and still finding it strange that people were interested in him and what he had to say. It was a new, and welcome, thing, having people ask questions or refer to him, to want to hear what he thought or what he knew.

 

......

 

"BAW805", Merlin yawned into the phone. He was talking with Arthur, his favorite blond in the world jotting down his flight number.

"Alright babe, got it", replied Arthur, and Merlin could note some traces of relief in his fiance's voice. They had been talking nearly every day since Merlin had been on Iceland, missing only two days when Arthur's day had been jammed with back to back meetings courtesy of Uther deciding to jet randomly to St. Andrews to play golf, and due to the time difference Merlin had gone to bed by the time Arthur that been free to phone him.

Merlin's blue eyes looking out at the beautiful landscape, a beautiful mountainous jagged expanse that he could gaze out from the floor to ceiling, wall to wall window of the bedroom he was in. The Eliope Organisation had rented out a lovely modern-looking home, slanted and with diagonal lines composing its exterior architecture looking reminiscent of the jagged rock formations in the horizon, a glass, steel, concrete structure He felt that it was too big for him but could admire the "Mies Van der Rohe look" of the house (words sent to him by Morgana after he'd sent her pics of the place) and the "Japanese shou sugi ban burning of the wood used for the hardwood floors in the west wing of the home" (words from the Eliope representative that had brought him to the home).

While throughout his stay at the home the view had struck him as beautiful and immense and stunning, now it made him feel empty when he looked out at the stars and indigo sky and knew that in some hours he'd finally be with his Arthur.

"I'm departing at around 12, and I'll be arriving at Heathrow at around 4 p.m., give or take", informed Merlin as he snuggled into the plush bed. There was some music drifting from the speakers, Merlin was playing Elliot Carter, one of Arthur's favorite composers, through his phone on them.

They talked some more, just idle chatter. Merlin mentioned that TheAtlantic.com wanted to do an interview with him when he arrived back in London, and Arthur mentioned that Freya had indeed been cast as Nikiya in the Royal Ballet's La Bayadère, that Morgana and Leon were going on track and well on the planning of their upcoming wedding, and that he'd cooked baked ziti (which he knew was Merlin's favorite meal that he made!), and after teasing that he'd eaten it all, assured the dark haired one of the two that there was still plenty left in the fridge.

"Are you willing to admit now that you did indeed miss me, my one true love?", Merlin asked, turning the lamp that sat on the bedside table off, having already shut down the Elliot Carter music.

He heard Arthur scoff, "Dream all you want, big ears. I didn't even miss you, I'm actually quite fine with you staying in Iceland for another week if you want to".

Stubborn Arthur, thought Merlin, letting out a light laugh at hearing his fiancé.

He paints a smirk on his pink lips even though his beloved can't see, "Well you know, the guy that delivers my groceries is actually quite handsome indeed", and he can already hear a grunt from Arthur, so he continues, "He had great biceps, I don't think I'd mind a week with him".

" _Mer_ lin", Arthur gruffed out in a warning tone.

The dark-haired man just laughs softly, "As if I have eyes for anyone but you, idiot", and after letting out a small yawn and feeling the heaviness of his eyelids he said his goodbyes, ended the call and turned off the cylindrical white glass lamp.

 

..........

 

Merlin had taken a cab from his home in the outskirts of Reykjavik to the airport, had already checked his bags and was seated in the main waiting room, the ceiling above colored purple with lights.

There was still time left until his flight started boarding, but he already had his boarding pass and passport ready. He was seated on one of the ergonomic-looking lines of seats, sleek phone up to his ear and waiting for Arthur to pick up. It was 2 in Iceland, so it was 1 p.m. in London with his fiancé.

"Hey, I'm at the airport", he greeted instantly when his fair-haired lover picked up the call, his tone bright. "How are you?", he asks, the thought of being back in London and in Arthur's arms makes a bright smile come to his face.

From the start, he could hear Arthur wasn't in the best of moods. "I'm fine", he hears his fiancé reply gruffly.

Merlin pouts. "What's wrong, Artie?", using that silly pet name he had always used years back to aggravate his fiancé when they had been sworn enemies and couldn't even stand to talk to one another. Nowadays he used the term much more endearingly, specifically when he knew that Arthur had some feelings that he was actively trying not to talk about. His childhood-instilled tendency to ignore and bottle his emotions tended to flare up every once and while, and it seemed this was one of those moments.

"Ugh, don't call me that", scoffs Arthur, making Merlin let out a small sigh, not ecstatic that Arthur's moodiness was taking place now. "What the fuck are you sighing over? My god, Merlin", was his blond fiance's response to that breath he'd exhaled.

The slender Emrys man's eyes widen. He hadn't expected Arthur to just start swearing, and for a moment he stayed quiet. A woman to his left was speaking at a rapid-fire speed what was maybe Mandarin, a nearby man was laughing along with his toddler.

Raising a hand to his temples, Merlin decides to not make this anything more than it has to be. With a level tone, he decides to try and ease his fiance's mood, "Arthur, I didn't mean to interrupt you if you're at work, I'm sorry-"

Arthur's indignant scoff fills his left ear. "Well, of course, I'm at work, where in fucking hell am I supposed to be? What do you think I'm doing right now?".

After years of knowing Arthur, he had grown used to dealing with these mood swings and with the fairer haired man being testy and irritable, particularly when it came to Uther. He wondered what the elder Pendragon had done this time to anger his son.

"I didn't say, God, Arthur", he murmurs, letting out a small grunt, leaning back into the seat. His fingers are still moving slowly at his forehead, and he really doesn't want to be having this conversation anymore, "I don't know what's going on right now, but I think it's best that I end the call before you say something out of anger that you don't mean, or that I get too exasperated and decide to stay here in Iceland for another day, so I'm going to-".

Arthur's tone is bathed in indignation, "You're going to hang up? Really, Merlin?". There's a loud scoffing sound, and he can hear that Arthur is clearly roughly moving at things on his desk, a habit that manifests itself when he's angered, he starts moving things all over the place.

"And what did you even say? Stay in Iceland? Fine then, stay, stay in Iceland then, Merlin", he gruffly adds.

Merlin doesn't even know how to respond to that. It's obvious to him that Arthur is riled up from something that Uther must've done, and while he doesn't know what it is, he decides that it's best to end the call now.

"Okay Arthur, that's fine, I'm going to hang up now", he says, and before his fiancé can say anything else, he decides to flick his finger along the phone screen, ending their phone call.

Sliding the phone into the pocket of his jacket, he can feel it start vibrating. Retrieving it just moments after putting it in his pocket, he sees it's a call from Arthur, and then two text messages arrive as well.

It's him realizing the error in his ways, Merlin knows. It happens like this, he knows. Even if the anger and the emotions flaring up have become much, much more infrequent as the years have passed, he still knows the process of how they go down.

It starts with Uther doing something to upset Arthur. Be it belittling him or putting him down, or abandoning his responsibilities to go off and jet to Morocco or Indonesia, but that's how it would start. Then Arthur would shut himself down emotionally, be in some robotic state of just doing things, but not be paying much attention to anyone. From there Arthur would get increasingly irritable and frustrated and would start lashing out and any and everyone. It would end in him probably lashing out on someone like Merlin, or Morgana, someone from their friend group, and him realizing what he was doing and apologize extremely. Then some year and a half, two years would go on before the process would pop up again.

But Merlin is not in the mood to listen to Arthur apologize. Now now, not when he just got basically yelled at after calling him to inform he was at the airport, on his way back to him after two damned weeks apart.

He puts his phone back into his jacket pocket, but not before turning it off. He'd already called Will and Gaius, sent a text to Leon and Gwen, so everyone knew he was on track to getting home. Merlin would just look at his watch if he needed to check out the time, simple as that.

And so, he remains seated, waiting for when his flight, flight BAW805, will start to board, and he'll be back in London in no time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be coming soon! 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I appreciate it greatly! Feel free to leave kudos and a comment with your thoughts! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur had called once and sent two text messages before he had been sent to voicemail. Letting out a small grunt after the seventh call in total, and setting his phone down on his desk, he placed his face in his hands.   
  
"God Arthur, what the bloody hell", he mutters to himself, letting out a deep breath.   
  
Lashing out like that to Merlin wasn't okay, he knew that. In retrospect, he had been lashing out at quite a couple people over the past day and a half, which included his sister last night when she'd called to invite him for dinner out at a Korean-French fusion place that is opened recently. She had promptly hung up on him when his attitude had flared up.   
  
It probably started, no, Arthur knew that it had started yesterday morning when his father and he had met up with one another in Uther's office suite (which looked more like a sprawling living area, really) on the top floor of Pendragon Tower. Their conversation was alright, not great, but when was it, and they had been going over some acquisition of a commercial bank in Austria, the acquisition of which had been helmed by Arthur's dear friend Mithian, until Uther made a biting remark.  
  
Arthur and Mithian had met when they were both studying at Oxford, and they had started dating some three months after knowing each other. They were together for some two years and a half, throughout which Uther was always gleefully telling his son what a lovely wife Mithian would make for him. For years the Pendragon family and the Nemeth nobles had been on thin ice, a generational feud that started who knows when, and Uther saw a marriage between them as a way to mend their divide and unify two of Britain's most renowned business and blue-blooded families.   
   
They'd moved in together to Arthur's home in Chelsea, and he'd even started preparing an engagement ring when she had sat him down and told him that their relationship was not going to work anymore. "You're in love with Merlin. And he loves you, and though I would love for you and me to be one for the other, I know we aren't and I don't want to keep you from him", she had said, softly crying, pushing her dark hair away from her face as she held his hands.   
  
What she said was something that he'd known for too long, that he loved Merlin, but he'd never acted on it, never tried something with his best friend. It hadn't helped that Merlin had been in a serious relationship with Will from the moment Arthur had met him until some year and a half ago.   
  
But it had been his breakup with Mithian that had led him to pursue Merlin, and jump five years and they were now engaged to be married come next spring.   
  
"You know, I think sometimes how it would be if you were married to Mithian", Uther murmured as he read over a document on his iPad, "You two really were perfect together. Maybe you could ask her out to dinner?".   
  
This happened too often. Uther's evident displeasure with his son marrying a man, and a "common folk sort of man" at that, was becoming more and more apparent. He had known his father didn't approve of his relationship with Merlin, Hell, Uther didn't even like it when he was just friends with Merlin, so he had loathed it when he heard that his son was dating the dark-haired "skinny elephant-eared commoner". He disliked it even more when he learned that Arthur had ended his relationship with Mithian for Merlin.   
  
"Father", Arthur said, trying to level his tone, and keeping his eyes on a memo that his assistant had forwarded to him on the screen of his own iPad, "I'll remind you that I'm engaged. As in, to be married".   
  
"You were engaged to Mithian if I remember correctly", replied the older Pendragon man, "I still remember you using your mother's trust to fashion Mithian a Welsh gold ring".   
  
"I never was engaged to her, father. And that ring is Merlin's now, and I'm sure mother would be quite happy seeing Merlin with the ring", is Arthur's reply, still as calm and steely as can be. 

Scoffing, Uther shakes his head, looking up to plant his gaze on his son, "As if your mother would be pleased to see that dirty common man become your spouse", he spat out, tone venomous. 

Arthur slams his right hand, balled into a fist, against the mahogany of Uther's desk. "Father, if you could kindly fuck off in regards to my marrying Merlin, I would appreciate it greatly", he growls out, sending his father, who looked nonplussed and unimpressed with his outburst, a harsh glare. 

Shrugging nonchalantly, Uther returns his eyes to the screen of the electronic device. "I guess it is a good time now for me to tell you now that I won't be attending any ceremony, reception, party, or event of any sort that has anything to do with you marrying that lowlife", he enunciated slowly, twirling his ballpoint men between his fingers. 

 

"Fine then", Arthur says, voice gruff and his jaw set in a hard line as he stands up, grabbing his coat and his things in record-time and storms out of his father's office, making a point of slamming the door as he leaves. He knows his father /hates/ that.

It had been what had set him off and had him angrily snapping at his sister, at people in the office and even at Merlin. After calling Merlin some seven more times and sending a flurry of text messages, he lets out a sigh and decides he'll just keep going at his day. 

 

_...._

Morgana and he are in one of the conference rooms, with a series of pages and folders spread out all over the surface of the wooden table. 

His sister is excitedly relaying information to him, and she passes him her iPad, opened on a gallery of images of a building painted vibrant blue, "So, the construction of the school and the children's centers in Mozambique are going well, I had a video conference with Jacinto and Iolanda this morning, and everything is going as scheduled, so that's great...", she goes on.

His inattentive nature must've been quite evident because Morgana snaps her fingers in front of his face, "Hey, earth to idiot, earth to idiot!", she says. 

Blinking quickly, he turns to look at the folder she's slid across the table to him, a report of the nearly finalized school in Mozambique which was the most recent development on behalf of The Ygraine Foundation, the charitable and humanitarian organization founded by their mother before she'd passed. "Yeah, yeah, sounds great", he replies, nodding as his eyes graze over the lines of text absentmindedly.

The silence that follows his reply has him looking up from the page of paper (that he wasn't really reading anyway). Morgana is staring at him, her green eyes intent on him, and she flicks some of her dark hair over the shoulder of her structural, tailored pinstripe blazer. Her gaze is intense as if she's studying some papers on the foundation's newly built children's hospital in Harare, and Arthur would deny it to his dying day that he had started squirming a bit after upwards of a minute and twenty seconds of silence and her scrutinizing look.

"You did something", she stated simply, eyes still on him and before he can even look indignant or try to refute her remark, she's letting out a small gasp and leaning forward, "Idiot, you're such an idiot, you lashed out on Merlin didn't you? He probably called you to tell you that he was going to be coming back to London and you lashed out, and that's why I've been talking to a wall for the last forty-five minutes", she breathes out, softly shaking her head. 

Arthur is unable to comprehend how his sister managed to read that much from him, but then again she's had a way of gaining information from people in the simplest way as of they were encyclopedias. He doesn't even try to deny it and nods, feeling worse as he has to accept that he did that, "Yeah, pretty spot on", he mumbles. 

She shakes her head softly, a hand coming up to brush away at some locks of her long hair that have slipped out of their perfectly coiffed and combed style. "And?", she prompts, seating herself back in the ergonomically designed grey chair, her eyes intent on him. "What are you going to do about it, brother dear?", she asks, her tone slightly pointed, maybe because she's plotting ideas for what she would do to make his life hell if he doesn't fix the situation soon. 

He refrains from shuddering when he remembers that one time he made a sick remark to Merlin about his weight some seven years back and Morgana found a way to have all the furniture in his home taken out and loaded onto a ship en route to Papa New Guinea. When Arthur had arrived home, he'd found that Morgana also had all the tile and wood flooring pulled out, his sports car had been keyed and she had somehow managed to convince their father to change the will, leaving her the castle in East Sussex that dated back to the 14th century. 

His sister was a frightening woman. 

"I don't know, witchy, I just...", he groans out, a hand reaching up to yank slightly at his hair. Arthur shakes his head, feeling dumbfounded by his actions, "He's about to come back to London and I basically fucked it up, two weeks without seeing him and he's going to come home after I basically yelled at him over the phone". 

Morgana stands up, brushing her hands along her bouclé and crepe de chine dress, and she walks around the table, coming to be next to him. She perches her willowy frame on the table, looking straight at him, and a hand reaches out to softly pull at his hair, earning a minute yowl from him. 

"Brother, you're the man who raced to meet Merlin at Heathrow when you were ready to tell him that you loved him. You ordered up a hundred red-tipped white carnations and met him, all besotted and blushing, at the arrival gate", she recounts, a small smile forming on her face. Softly patting his hair in that way that was either awfully patronizing or sweetly sisterly (it depended on the situation, really), Morgana added, "So think something up from your heart that is occasionally not lifeless and fix things with Merlin", she instructed. 

He nods to her, meeting her eyes and for a moment he sees a flash of warmth in her gaze. "Sure, okay, okay, I'll be sure to do so, sister of mine", he remarks, getting up and giving her a one-armed hug (she doesn't stab him with her blade-sharp stilettos) before basically running out of the conference room. 

Scoffing and shaking her head as she follows, drifting to the door and watching him as he races to the elevator doors, Morgana calls out: "If you don't get him back I'm convincing father to leave me the estate on Ninniane Lake, you idiot". 

He laughs loudly, but when she hears a chuckle nearby and turns her head to see a man trying to hide his laughter she shoots him a glare. "Get back to work", she reprimands in a steely tone before going back into the conference room, and she sees him hurriedly scamper off. 

 

....

 

Arthur is hard at work, not on actual work, but in trying to see if he can get Percival to send him a box of Merlin's favorite cinnamon-flavored vanilla and honey custard filled donuts from his bakery. 

Their friend Percival had, despite what one would think when you saw how much he benchpressed and his affinity for kickboxing and Crossfit, always had a dream of opening up a bakery. Following his studies at Le Cordon Bleau in Paris and stints at the Mandarin Oriental and then the Café Royal under Sarah Barber, he opened his own bakery, patisserie and sweets shop on Mount Street with financial investments from the Pendragons and Gaius. 

G65 Bakery had become one of London's newest hot-spots, a "must stop" according to a recent issue of Vogue that covered the bakery in a three-page article, and everyone in the gang adored the delicious goodies that Percival created. 

Arthur chuckled at the video that he received from Percival of Gwaine making a whole scene after reading the texts that he'd sent Percy about what happened and why he needed the donuts asap. "If they break up, I swear Percival, I swear on my hair that it means that love is a farse", Gwaine is loudly lamenting, evidently coming to see his baker beau straight from a photo shoot if the heavy cobalt blue eyeliner means anything.

"I really messed up man", he sends.

Percival replied with a simple, "I'll box them up for you, with a blue bow since Merlin is always blabbing that he likes your eyes". Moments later he adds, "I'll have Gwaine get them to go you by 2". 

He sends a thank you in reply and decides to breathe. Looking out the floor to ceiling window in his office he stared out at the image of the London skyline. Arthur hopes that Merlin won't be too upset, and knowing the heart of gold that his fiancé has he probably won't be, which makes him actually feel even worse about the whole thing. 

Checking his watch he sees its about 1, so he rolls his shoulders back and deems that it's probably a good idea to get some work done while Gwaine arrives with the donuts from Percival. Knowing Gwaine, he'll probably waltz in all dramatic and loud and be telling Arthur that he has to "ease Merlin's breaking heart" and will probably repeat that if his "favorite couple in the world" break up that it means that love is nothing but an illusion. 

He'll leave the office once he has the baked goods, and go to Heathrow to meet Merlin at the arrival gate, he'll bring him home, apologize all the way through it, try to make amends and finally have his Merlin in his arms once more, he thinks.

It seems like a great plan, and he smiles proudly. 

 

....

 

He had just finished his call to Sefa about dropping by her flower shop in a bit to pick up a bouquet of white camellias and forget-me-nots when Morgana runs into his office. 

Arthur has a crooked smile on his face, ready to offer a remark on how impressed he is of her running in her stilettos that are so high she's basically just standing on the balls of her feet when he really looks at her. 

Her hair isn't immaculate as it always is, and she paid no mind to the fact that the left side of her blazer had slipped down, revealing her milky skin, or that the princess-length string of freshwater pearls are askew around her neck. Then he saw her face, and she looked pale, her eyes blown wide and it was evident that there were tears brimming and some had already slipped down along the fine form of her cheekbones. 

"A-Arthur, you have to see this", she instructed, evidently trying to stop her voice from wavering as she handed him her iPad. 

It's a video, and he pressed play without a question, thinking that if his sister is this rattled it must be something important. 

It's a woman in a ruffled white blouse with embroidery along the neck, sitting behind a table. She's of color, dark hair pinned back from her face. 

"I'm Amalinda Carter, this is Breaking News with the BBC, coming to you live with breaking news from Reykjavik, where it's being reported that a British Airways flight has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean."

Arthur felt himself go numb.

"No news has come out yet in regards to the causes of the crash, but its being reported that British Airways' Flight 805 crashed some 90 km. off the coast of the Faroe Islands. There is no news concerning survivors of casualties of the crash as of now or what exactly it is that happened, though airport and airway officials at Keflavík Airport have commented that their immediate assessment is that it is unlikely there are any survivors."

Arthur doesn't remember how to breathe. 

Flight BAW805. 

Morgana is what brought him back to reality. Her voice was soft, and she was close, her slender body pressed against his chair, "M-M-he, he told Leon his flight was BAW805, that's what he said to me, but I'm mistaken, right? I wrote down the wrong flight number, right? Arthur, right?". 

Her pleading tone, the breaking of her voice near the end, is what gave him the push back to reality, what made him turn to look at his sister, what has his hand reaching out for hers, the Pendragon siblings' fingers gripping one another tightly. 

"Merlin was on flight BAW805", he breathed out. 

 

.....

 

If anyone on the same floor of Pentagon Tower were to look through the ajar door to Arthur Pendragon's office they would see the two Pendragon siblings together.  

They'd see, and hear, Morgana fallen to her knees, her left hand tightly grasping at her brother's hands, her grip vice-like and turning the skin of his hands a blanched alabaster, and crying. Sobs utterly racking her figure, slender body shaking, trembling with emotion, crying out, tears openly streaming down the face of the same woman who loathed to show emotion in public. 

They would see Arthur, seated in his chair, looking stately. He was quiet, looking almost like a statue fashioned from Pentelicon white marble, his face emotionless as he simply stared blankly at the door. Simply sitting there, emotionless, numb to all feeling.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unsure of when I'll update again, but I'll try to do it soon! :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for the wait on this here third chapter, I'm unsure when I'll get around the the fourth chapter but I hope you all enjoy reading this fic :)

"I need to call Gaius", murmured Morgana, her figure trembling as if she had been thrown into a snowy tundra as she stood. She wobbled in her footing, and as she took some steps toward the door she nearly fell. 

"Fuck, fuck", she cried out, her voice sounding choked as she instead just slipped out of her stilettos, her height lowering 4 inches. She made her way, barefoot, to Arthur's desk, shakily picking up the desk phone and dialing Gaius' number. 

She's shaking still, her frame trembling and unable to remain still. The tremors were still running through her being. "G-Gaius?", she stuttered out when the call is picked up, and when the man greets her in a chipper tone, a choked sound escapes her. 

Tears are brimming in her eyes again, and she manages to shakily speak into the phone, "G-Gaius, we're really worried because Merlin was on Flight BAW805 coming back to London, and there's news of that flight going down in the A-Atlantic". 

For a brief moment, she thinks maybe something occurred with the connection. Then there's a shaky breath and Gaius responded, "You're calling from Arthur's office number at the Tower, I'll be there". 

Then he hangs up. 

She's crying again, tears slipping along the elegant shape of her cheekbones, and her figure hasn't stopped rattling, like a children's doll being shaken around. 

Turning to look at her brother, she finds him in that same quiet state that he was in when she'd fallen to her knees and been crying. He looked like he hadn't even blinked, frozen in time, she thinks, and Morgana is shutting the door and then rushing over to him. 

"Arthur, Arthur, hey", she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, palm landing softly on his suit jacket, wanting to pull him out whatever haze he was in. 

The moment her hand touches his shoulder he lurched forward, basically throwing himself into her body, and she just barely managed to wrap her arms around his solid frame. He started crying the moment she does get a hold of him, and she instantly lifted him up a bit so he's standing, and she allows him to burrow his face into her neck, his arms tightly wound around her body. 

His breathing is coming out in shallow intakes and quick exhales. His fingers are tightly gripping the fabric of her dress and she can feel his tears fall down her shoulder, and she tightens her grip on him. 

It became aware to her that he's having a panic attack, or some kind of shock, some intense stress that's rocking his body and mind. Growing up it had always been her to take care of him when this happened since Uther was never someone to engage in caretaking, and he was more frequently than not the source of Arthur's panic attacks that he had refused to believe were a thing. "He's just making a fuss, being an attention-craving and stupid child", she recalled Uther saying once, with a disdainful tone.

Morgana doesn't dare lessen her grip on Arthur. She still remembers what needs to be done to ease him, and so she keeps her arms wrapped around him, tightly. He needs to feel like he's with someone, that someone is there, he needs physical contact at this moment. He needed to feel it, and she had them close, pressed in a tight hug. 

"Arthur, I need you to listen to my voice. Listen to me, please", she instructed, her voice gaining a new strength. Though she had been smashed face-first by an onslaught of emotions some minutes earlier, she had that magic ability to recover from her emotions, blinking, taking two breaths and being back to herself, and right now she needed to be that unmoving wall of strength she always had been. 

Morgana said to her brother, voice strong and steady, "Arthur, Artie, you're with me, with Morgana, your sister, and I need you to try and regulate your breathing and inhale when I do and exhale when I do". 

They stand there, hugging and his breathing is ragged and intense, until after some minutes of her holding him and easing him in a coaxing tone, telling him a series of poems from Plath's The Colossus and Other Poems that she had memorized years back, his breathing was calming down.

"We can't be sure that something happened to him, we don't know and we have to be calm", she murmured gently, her breath tickling at his ear. 

Arthur nodded, and she can tell that he's alright now. He stayed in that position, them holding onto one another, his arms around her and hers around him. She easily understands how hearing that news had ripped him up, God, she couldn't imagine how she'd be if something of the sort happened to Leon, so she keeps her arms around him, encasing him snugly.

The siblings stay like that for a while and only separate when the door is flung open and Gaius is quickly entering, shutting the door behind him softly. 

He looked shaken. The normally so composed man looks like he was just in a wind tunnel: his hair was disheveled, his matcha-green blazer with the plaid elbow patches was wrinkled and slipping down his shoulder. 

His eyes met Morgana's and when he starts walking towards the siblings she meets him halfway. Wrapping her arms around him and feeling his tight embrace, the squeezing and cozy bear hugs that he always gave everyone, and she inhaled deeply the smell of herbs, smoky wood, and pecans that she'd come to identify with the older man. 

When they pulled away, his attention was redirected towards Arthur. Making his way over to her brother, Morgana watched as Arthur lets himself easily be taken into the arms of the older man, their close embrace, and she felt a knot grow in her throat. She saw that Arthur's frame didn't shake, and it doesn't look like his breathing has gone erratic or shallow, so she remains still, hugging her arms and swallows. 

Gaius is the first to speak,  "I think it'd be best for us to get going to Heathrow. Maybe, let's hope, they can tell us something there, or well at least maybe...", his voice trailed off and Morgana sees his eyes linger on a space in the wall behind her and she turns around. 

It's a photograph, of all of them. It was taken at Arthur's last birthday, all of them were there, and they'd all rushed to get together, lining up, hugging, getting close, for the camera. 

There was Will, messy dark hair, grinning a lopsided smile, hugging Freya close, her with her mahogany colored hair pulled back into a perfect braid, and they're next to Gaius. He's wearing an ivy green blazer and is smiling widely, looking ever as bright and joyous. There were Gwen and Lance, him with his arms around her, the coffee-skinned beauty caught mid-laugh, and beside them are standing Gwaine and Percival. Ever the model, Gwaine was smoldering to the camera, legs looking kilometers-long and his hair artfully messy as always, and he's draped over the hulking figure of his boyfriend, Percival being all smiles and looking happy as a prince, gazing lovingly at his boyfriend. Elyan is there too, cheerfully with his arm around a beautiful Mithian, looking like ever a knockout and smiling charmingly, Mordred, who was offering one of his rare smiles, and Elena, the sunny blond is looking radiant, pressing a friendly kiss to Sefa's cheek who, albeit blushing, looked much more lively than her usual shy self. Morgana was there too, with her perfectly regal beauty seemingly emanating from the photo, and by her side, looking dashing as ever, was Leon. 

And there, in the middle, were Arthur and Merlin. Her brother, golden-haired, was smiling genuinely. She'd known him long enough to be able to go deduce which of his smiles were real and which were just superficial masks, and she could tell that this one, where he held Merlin close, was a real one. Her best friend is right beside her brother, sheepishly looking at the camera, a bashful look on his face, albeit with a smile that shone. 

Gaius' eyes seem to be trained on the image of his nephew. Morgana feels her throat constrict at that, at the look in the older man's eyes as he gazes at the face of his nephew, and she speaks, wanting to break the silence, "Let's get going then". 

She smoothed her hands along her dress, and then they're all leaving the office. Morgana sees Arthur murmur something to his assistant posted outside his office at her desk, and she turned to Gaius, "I'll meet you two down in the parking lot", and she gave his shoulder a slight squeeze before whisking off. 

Long strides and a short elevator ride later, she's back at the same conference room that she had been in with Arthur earlier. Collecting all her papers and her folders, sliding them into her black leather briefcase, she allowed herself to do it slower than she would on any other day. Tucking documents into crisp folders, sliding pens into pockets inside her briefcase, her shoulders trembled slightly but she keeps going. 

Ten minutes later she's racing once the elevator doors open, and rushing to her brother's familiar and sleek sports car, parked nearby. She got in the back seat, her brother in the driver's and Gaius in the passenger's seat, and she nods when her brother asks, his voice shaky, if she's ready. 

She isn't ready, not for any of this, this situation, this horrible reality that one of the people she loved most in this world was gone, but she nodded.

 

_...._

 

"We should call the others", suggested Morgana once they'd been driving some five minutes in silence. 

Her hand is already reaching into her minaudière for her cellphone. She sees Arthur and Gaius nod, and the older man turns to look at her, "You should tell them to come meet us at Heathrow", and she nodded in response. 

She's unlocked her phone, and as she stared at her wallpaper: an image of Leon and her, she doesn't know who to call first. Did it matter? Was it important to call someone before someone else? 

Morgana ends up dialing Will's number first, eyes intent on the image that she has saved for his contact. It's him, dark hair messy and smiling wide, a picture she had taken when the whole gang had gotten organized and gone to the Pendragon villa on Lake Como. It seemed fitting, what with Merlin and him being best friends since they were toddlers, having even dated for years. 

"Hey Morgs, her majesty!", he chuckled when he picked up the call, "What's going on?". 

She swallowed. "I need you to know something Will. Have you seen the news at all in the past hour or two?"

He's quick to answer, "No, sorry Morgs, is there something I should've seen? Been at home working on the nursery, Freya won't stop telling me to thank you for that custom  crib you got for us, it's really lovely and-"

"Merlin was on flight BAW805, and there's news from one hour or so ago that it went down over the Atlantic". 

She pictures Will at that moment. Last month she had been at Will and Freya's home, had met their surrogate and had insisted that she was going to get them their crib for their upcoming baby girl. He was probably painting the walls right now, setting up the baby's nursery, and Morgana wondered how he looked, painting, setting everything up, and then what he looked like now. Still, shocked, shaken. 

"W-what?", she heard him choke out. There's a clattering sound and she assumes that maybe he dropped something. 

Morgana swallowed again and ran a hand through her hair. "We're going to Heathrow right now. Arthur, Gaius and I, if you want to meet us there. We're going to see if anyone knows something about what's going on". 

There's a long pause before the dark-haired beauty heard him clear his throat. "We'll see you there Morgs, thank you for calling", he said, voice sounding strange and she can tell, from years of knowing one another, that his voice is choking up and he's fighting tears. 

She opened her mouth to respond but he hung up. 

Morgana let out a small sigh. Being the bearer of that kind of news to Will, who had known Merlin since before he knew how to talk, felt awful and left her feeling a pit in her stomach. She couldn't imagine the series of thoughts and emotions going through Will at that moment, and she brushed some hair from her face, telling herself that he was strong, always emotionally resilient and that they didn't know for sure of anything happening to Merlin, they didn't know for certain. 

She held on to that fact. They didn't know for certain. 

Her phone ringing and vibrating in her hand brings her out of her thoughts. It's Gwaine, she realized upon seeing the black and white image of him, in a turtleneck sweater covered in appliques (it was an image from a photo shoot he'd done with Annie Leibovitz), and he looked perfectly stunning, like a Rembrandt, a fine portrait, the light touching upon him softly. She picked up the call, lifting her phone to ear. 

"Are you two serious? I get here, with the donuts that the Princess said he wanted, and his assistant is rambling on that he left with Gaius and you like some ten minutes ago?", is what she is greeted with, and she can perceive the aggravated tone in his voice. 

She started, "Gwaine, God, sorry, really, look I need you to listen to me please-"

"No, you tell Princess to listen to _me_ ", he scoffed and she can imagine him flipping his hair. "I'm going to eat some three of these donuts until you get back here, where _are_ you guys? What is more important to that _prat_ than saving his relationship with literally, the most _beautiful_ human specimen on the face of the planet, honestly Morgana, I really d-"

"Merlin was on Flight BAW805", Morgana interrupted, "and there's news that Flight BAW805 went down into the Atlantic an hour ago. We're on our way to Heathrow to see if anyone can tell us anything and-"

She's cut off by a strangled sound from the other line, and she can only imagine the look on Gwaine's face. Her free hand, nervously, tugged at the hem of her dress, and she continued, "Call Percival, both of you meet us there, please", she said, finding her own voice is choked up. 

His voice is evidently wobbly and watery, "I-I'll see you guys there", and then he's hanging up. 

She doesn't know what to think then when she remembered that while Arthur and her had gripped onto one another after the news, and Will and Freya most likely did the same thing, that Gwaine was standing in an office, surrounded by people that he didn't know and she squirms in her seat at the thought. 

The remaining nearly twenty-minute car ride to the airport is spent by her sending messages and calling people. She called Leon, whose cheerful disposition ("The florist called, and she said that the lady smocks from Cheshire are blooming beautifully, I think it's _really_ sweet you wanted to have the flowers from your mum's home county, Gana, that's re-") is suddenly dimmed and she can hear how his voice shrinks after she tells him the news and to meet them at Terminal 2. Even then, he's taking a deep breath, and putting her first, asking if she's alright, and it ends up being him assuring her of everything going to be fine for some minutes before he ends the call, promising to meet them at Heathrow. 

She sent a message to Gwen, who instantly called her, sobbing, crying, and her voice an incoherent mess as she asked Morgana what the hell is going on. Gwen must be at her atelier in Connaught Village, thinks Morgana. She knew that Gwen was hard at work on the making of Morgana's wedding gown, and just earlier that morning Gwen had sent a chipper audio message telling her that everything was going great. 

"What's g-g-go", she heard Gwen inhale sharply, only to sputter out her next breath, "Morg-what's goi-i-ing on?", she managed to finally say. 

Morgana felt that she could start sobbing too. She placed a hand on the seat of the car, and her fingers are spread on the leather, furiously wishing she could grip at it, grip something tight to feel like she's grounded in something, like the world isn't completely falling apart. 

"I need you to breathe, Gwenny", she said, keeping her voice steady, just as she had with Arthur. Swallowing and closing her eyes, leaning back into the seat, "Please breath with me, Gwen, in and out, in and out", and when she looks at the review mirror and meets Arthur's eyes, she has to quickly look away. 

She's coaxing Gwen to ease her breathing and her crying over the phone, and Morgana swallowed, letting a small smile flit along her lips when Gwen's inhaling and exhaling eases. Morgana explained slowly to Gwen what's going on, of the news with Merlin's flight and the plane going down in the Atlantic, and of how they were going to the airport to see what they can find out. "Maybe someone there can tell us something ", the dark-haired woman had said, hearing Gwen's sniffle-ridden breaths on the other side of the call. 

Morgana ended the call and sent text messages out to everyone else, detailing what has happened, the news, and that they were going to be at Terminal 2 at the airport if anyone wanted to join them to see if they could get more information. 

They are nearing the airport, and she was fighting hard to keep herself from absolutely sobbing and crying out. The calls and the text messages had made Morgana think of the situation, that they didn't know a thing about Merlin's state, that maybe he was dead, punctured by shrapnel, drowned, killed by the impact. 

Releasing a breath, Morgana swallowed and stared at Heathrow. She'd never hated an airport more. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter! I'm sorry about the long wait, I apologise but I hope that you enjoy reading this chapter :) 
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos and a comment! They're much appreciated!


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